LED Q's

[Sophie1213]

Since I have started my saltwater setup I've used t5's. Since it's been about a year and it's probable time to replace the bulbs, I was thinking that I should probably upgrade to LEDs. I was wondering if there were specifics I need to have. I found some on ebay for like 65-100 bucks, but I wanted to know what I needed before I bought them.
The other question that I have, does the led need to be 6500 or not? I keep seeing both.

I have both soft corals and hard corals, so it would have to work best for them. Otherwise my tank is a 75 gal.

 

[Andrew_bram]

Personally I would stick with the t5.

 

[sethsolomon]

2 of these should be good for a 75 if your on a tight budget: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dimmable-16...7093101?pt=US_Hydroponics&hash=item5658ce27ed


+1 to Andrew and if you like to pop of LED's just add some blue led accents.

 

[Sophie1213]

Oh weird, I thought I replied..
Do you both use t5s?
Maybe I just need a better unit.

I think I like the life of the bulb as well, since it's 8 bulbs, it gets a little pricey, especially since I'm a student, and have a crappy part time job.
How does the full spectrum differ from the basic ones that come up with a search?

 

[Andrew_bram]

I use t5. What type of unit do you have? If it's a 4 ft bulb I would think that would be way to much for a 75. Getting better bulbs also makes a big difference I personally recommend ati bulbs they are fantastic.

 

[jda123]

I don't think that LED is much of an upgrade for most situations. Cheap LEDs with too many white diodes can melt most LPS. I would stick with the T5s too.

 

[Sophie1213]

honestly haha, I got it when I first started off ebay, no specific brand. They are the 48" bulb, what do you recommend?

 

[jda123]

TEK, ATI or AquaMedic T5 would be a real upgrade. 4 bulb would be fine for softies and LPS.

There used to be some sweet deals since people were selling them cheap as they switched to LED, but prices are no longer in the basement on quality T5 and MH stuff.

A 150W HQI setup would be really nice too, but it will be more power than a 4 bulb T5 setup... but the same as a 6 bulb... and bulb replacement is only ever other year... and 2 bulbs.

 

[Andrew_bram]

I would do either a 2-4 bulb let retro. Let hands down makes the best t5 components. They make the blast that tek used and there reflectors out performed ice cap. They are reasonably priced and 4x54 in my old 75 could keep any sps on the sand bed. If you are going to do just Lps and softies two is plenty but 4 gives you more options on color.

 

[kmcmurtry]

I had to get away from halides because my husband hates using the air conditioning and my t5's run very cool. I didn't want to use a chiller because in my older home i am barely able to run the plugs and watts i use now. I have a nice Chinese ebay 120 watt dimmable on my small tank and it does produce the pop i like but some of my corals have had to be moved back to under t5 because whatever setting i have on the led somehow they just prefer the spectrum of the t5 to really thrive. I did replace all my 7 bulbs in one shot this fall with ati for maybe $110 and the mix i got has nice pop too. Bulk price when you order many at once. Check out some tanks in person that are running led would be my advice and see what you like.

 

[sethsolomon]

Oh weird, I thought I replied..
Do you both use t5s?
Maybe I just need a better unit.

I think I like the life of the bulb as well, since it's 8 bulbs, it gets a little pricey, especially since I'm a student, and have a crappy part time job.
How does the full spectrum differ from the basic ones that come up with a search?

I don't use T5's. I use Halides with blue LED accent. But A good 4 bulb t5 setup is about 2x as good as cheap led's. Leds you get what you pay for basically.

 

[Sophie1213]

So what are the retros? Having 4 bulbs sounds a lot better than having 8. I usually only run about 4 anyways, but replacement wise that sounds better.

I feel like mine don't do too well in the sand, but it's probably from needing to replace the bulbs. I think the old bulbs might be causing some algae growth too, it's the light brown algae on the rocks, it sucks. Any tips on that??

 

[Sophie1213]

also with those ati bulbs, what are the blues and purples??
Ive always had my 10k and my actinic's too so I don't know how the purples and such

 

[Andrew_bram]

I would do 3 blue plus and a coral plus. It will be a nice blue color( much more blue than you have now I would assume). Retro is made to fit in a canopy. Great white in Fort Collins can order this in for very reasonable price. How old are the bulbs.

 

[Sophie1213]

I would say they are about a year old roughly. Ah I've always wanted a canopy. :sentimental:

 

[Andrew_bram]

You can still mount without a canopy. Also are you using any sort of fan over the bulbs

 

[Sophie1213]

the fixture has built in fans, I think there's 5 fans down the center.
So what exactly is a reasonable price? Fort collins is about an hour away ):

 

[Andrew_bram]

I am not sure for your size fixture because mine is 80 watt bulbs. Give him a call only place local you can find them or you can find them online

 

[Andrew_bram]

Vince can get pretty close to online if not cheaper

 

[Sophie1213]

I'll check that out for sure.
So would the 48" bulb be good, or would something smaller work?